The Protector
by OneViGOR
Summary: After the events of Reconstruction, Caboose is paired with a new AI. Meet Iota, the protector. Rated T, but there is quite a bit of swearing. Blame Church.
1. Prologue

**I do not own Red vs. Blue. Red vs. Blue is property of Rooster Teeth™ and is based on the Halo series by Bungie™ and 343 Industries™.**

**If you have already seen that final four episodes of Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction, but don't feel like reading all of that, I would recommend you either jump to the end of this prologue or go straight on to Chapter 1. This is essentially Reconstruction Ep. 15-19, but with a few changes to introduce my OC.**

**Prologu****e**

"All right, we got in. But that's only part of our mission, so no celebrating yet," Agent Washington announced as he led his squad of red and blue soldiers into command.

"Aw, shit. And I was gonna be in charge of confetti." That was Grif, a member of the red team clad in orange armour. He was possibly the laziest man in existence. However, he did love a good bit of sarcasm. Washington ignored his comment and continued talking.

"We still need to reach the AI storage facility. Security's tight since the freelancers tried to break in here."

"You mean when they tried to steal the Alpha before?" Church said.

"Exactly."

Church was a member of the blue team, one of the only two blue soldiers Washington had brought along. He likes to swear a lot, so strap in for a rough ride. The other was Caboose, potentially the most idiotic person in existence. Caboose wore blue armour while Church wore a slightly lighter shade or blue. Church was only a private, but was the self-appointed leader of the blue team. He had been ever since his commander, Captain Flowers, died of a heart attack.

Alpha was an artificial intelligence program, or AI, that had been tortured and mentally ripped apart until it's personality split into many different AI fragments, named after the characters of the Greek alphabet. These fragments were given to soldiers with advanced combat training and highly technical armour to help them be more efficient fighters. These soldiers were known as freelancers, each one given a designated name after one of the American states.

Washington was a freelancer, and was entrusted with the AI known as Epsilon, the fragment that embodied Alpha's memories. It began to remember the horrific things Alpha had been put through and went insane. Washington saw these things too, and went just as insane as Epsilon. He was stripped of his AI and made unfit for duty.

Washington had told his fellow squad members that they had infiltrated this facility to find Alpha. In truth, he had actually come to find Epsilon.

"The freelancers tried to break into their own command facility?" Grif asked. "That's dumb!"

Simmons, another member of the red team, replied, "That's what we're doing right now, you jackass!" Simmons was considered to be the nerdy, ass-kissing right-hand man of their commander known only as Sarge. Sarge's armour was standard issue red. Simmons's was maroon.

"So? Just because we do something doesn't make it smart."

Simmons sighed. "Tell me about it..."

Washington brought them back to the mission. "I have the necessary clearance to get close to the storage hall. The plan is: I'll take Church as a prisoner. If I take more than one of you it won't be believable."

Caboose, not quite understanding the plan, said "Agent Washington? I want you to take me instead."

"What are you talking about? Church asked.

"I will be your prisoner. Let Church go! He doesn't have anything to do with this!" There's one other thing about Caboose you might want to know. He has an obsession with Church and is convinced they are best friends. Church, however, hates him. Only a few days ago he had attempted to shoot Caboose with his sniper rifle. He missed. Church loves the sniper rifle, but rarely hits anything with it.

"Caboose, I'm not actually going to _be _a prisoner, I'm just gonna pose as one so we can get past-"

"Have a good life, Church. Don't worry. I won't tell them anything. They won't get any information out of me, no matter how nicely they ask!"

"Oh my God, just shut up."

"Sacrificing himself for a CO! What a good soldier." Sarge commented, "Why can't you two be more like him?"

"What, brain-dead?" said Grif.

"I'd sacrifice Grif for you, sir." Simmons offered.

"I know you would, Simmons, but it's just not the same thing."

"No, but seriously, I would. Just gimme the word. I'll do it right fucking now, let's go! Bring it!" Grif wasn't a very popular guy. Sarge hated his guts and made multiple death threats to him every day, though it didn't look like he ever was going to kill him. He'd had plenty of opportunities.

Grif had ignored this exchange and directed a question to Washington. "Why are you taking Church? What about the rest of us?"

"We're sneaking past seven levels of armed checkpoints. Are you volunteering?"

"Uhh, it was a hypothetical question!"

"The rest of you will hole up and wait for us to finish. And don't touch anything."

Sarge jumped in. "How will we know when you're done?"

"When you see every guard in the base running in one direction, that means we're probably in trouble."

"All the guards? What, are, wait, whu, why are we taking Church again?" Church asked, clearly getting nervous.

"Just keep the guards off of us and we'll radio when we're in position. This will be our extraction point."

"Keep them off you?" Grif asked.

"Yeah, distract them, dipshit." As Church said this, he and Washington began to leave the room down a corridor.

"How?"

Washington replied this time. "Well, this is the centre that came up with all the ridiculous scenarios you guys have suffered through over the years. So have fun. Break some shit."

They followed several hallways and corridors underground, all the while Washington was jabbing a rifle into Church's back. They soon came across one of the armed checkpoints Wash had mentioned earlier. It was two guards in front of a heavy iron door.

"Hold on! Don't come any closer," said one of the guards. "I need you to stay right there, sir."

"Understood. I need access to the next level. The counsellor wants to interrogate another survivor from outpost 17-B."

"What? I thought all the blues in Valhalla were dead. Where'd this one come from?"

"I don't have to explain anything to you, soldier. Stand down."

"Sorry, sir. I didn't mean anything by-

"That's fine. I'll let it go. As you were."

"Something doesn't seem right to me. I'm gonna have to call this in."

"Absolutely. Call it in. Let me just- NOW!"

As Wash said "NOW," Church dropped to his knee and whipped out a pistol. Washington shot the guard on the left through the head while Church fired at the one on the right. All of Church's shots missed, despite being only a metre from the guard, and he found himself with an empty clip.

They all stayed silent for a moment, quietly in awe, wondering how he could miss from such a distance. After a few seconds, Church asked Wash for some assistance.

"Uhh, hey, can I get a little help? I'm out of bullets."

Washington fired once and the guard dropped to the floor.

"Thanks."

He opened the door and they continued down to the next level masquerading again as prisoner and captor.

"Nice shooting there, Church."

"Hey shut up, Wash!"

The pair went through several more checkpoints with Wash taking out both guards and Church staying quiet. Eventually they got to the AI storage hall they'd been searching for.

The hall was enormous. It had two floors, the second being more of a terrace to look out over the lower floor. There were very few physical objects in this hall, but there were hundreds of holograms. Some were control panels and consoles whereas others seemed to be purely for decoration, resembling large runic symbols of brilliant yellows and magnificent blues.

"Here," said Wash. "This is it."

"Whoa! What is this place?" Church stood, dumbstruck by the awe-inspiring view of the hall.

"It's the storage facility for all the AIs. The rejects, the bad variants. Everything is here. _Everything_.

They began to look around and Washington started to analyse some more holograms. These ones had been set into the wall.

"Dear lord! What are all these lights in the walls?" Church asked.

"It's holographic storage."

"And one of these things is Alpha?"

"You work on closing that door. I'll find what we're looking for, and when I do every soldier on base is sure to come running. So be ready."

Church wondered off, looking for the control to close the door. Washington skirted the walls, searching for the one that contained Epsilon.

He began to hear whispering voices calling his name. They were quiet at first, but grew slowly louder. These were all of the AIs he had mentioned calling out to him. He was getting closer to Epsilon when he recognised one of the voices. As he approached where it was emanating from his suspicions were confirmed. It was an AI that belonged to one of his friends, Agent Vermont, who died during training. It was the AI known as Iota.

Iota was the part of the original Alpha that made it want to protect others. It relied on Alpha's logic, represented in the AI fragment called Delta, to determine whether or not protecting someone was the right course of action.

Washington decided that Iota could be very useful, but he knew that the mission was going to have enough of a twist for his squad-mates already, so he put him into a portable storage unit. Then ensured that Church was out of earshot and had a quiet talk with the AI.

"Iota, are you alright?"

"Whatever damage had been done to me has been repaired over the years. You are Agent Washington, are you not?"

"That's right. You have to listen to me. A lot of things are going to happen soon. Things that could risk the lives of me, other people and every AI in this facility. I need you to do me a favour and promise me you will stay quiet. Everything will turn out fine and everyone will live, but only if you do not try to protect them. If you interfere at all, you could cause many people to die."

"That seems somewhat ironic. How is that so?"

"I don't have time to explain. All you need to know is if you want as many people to live as possible, you need to keep from interfering. Is that clear?"

"Clear. Thank you for finding me, Washington."

"Don't take offence, but I didn't come here searching for you. I am looking for Epsilon."

"I do not think you would benefit from being paired with Epsilon again."

"I know. Do you know where he is?"

"I do. He is being stored in holographic storage disk 128."

"Thank you. Now stay quiet until I call on you."

"Acknowledged."

Iota disappeared into the storage unit as if he was never there. Washington proceeded to holographic storage disk 128 and confirmed Epsilon's presence.

"Church! I got it! Get over here!"

Church arrived as the door slid shut. Washington gestured to Epsilon's storage area.

"Here, this is it! There."

"Oh, great, you found it alre- Ah!"

Church stumbled back in pain, almost dropping his sniper rifle. He took a second to catch his breath.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just had like a weird flash... Urgh! Ah!"

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I think it's this thing. It's like, sending out images. Is this the Alpha?"

"No. This is not the Alpha." Washington brought out a physical storage unit and put Epsilon into it.

"No? Well, what is it?"

"This is Epsilon. This is my AI."

"You mean to tell me we've come all this way for this? You're fucking crazy AI, Epsilon?"

"Yes. I thought it was gone. But Delta told you memory was the key. At first I thought he meant to remember our first encounter. And when I met Delta the first time what I told him was, "It's cheaper to recover you than it is to delete you." When they removed Epsilon from me he was unravelling. Casting off all his thoughts. I was sure they deleted him, but it's-"

"It's cheaper to store it than it is to delete it, right?"

"Right."

This was a long conversation between Wash and Church. Wash was explaining why they came for Epsilon. I won't go through it as it really just recaps a lot of what I have already told you. Eventually it came to Washington revealing that Church was really the Alpha AI. I'm not trying to make this a big plot twist. If I was I'd have started the story further back and talked about it very differently.

Church didn't believe Washington at all, and summed him up by saying, "You're a fucking idiot."

"That's not the reaction I expected."

"You think I'm a computer program?"

"Why is that hard to believe?"

"Uhh, how about 'cuz I'm a person? That I have been my whole life? That I have memories from when I was a kid? And I don't remember being a calculator, dude!"

"AIs are programs based on an actual human mind. You're bound to have some residual memories. They just aren't yours."

"Oh, you're so full o' shit!"

"And after what you've been through it's not hard to imagine you wouldn't-"

"Gimme a break, dude!"

"Okay, fine. I suppose you being a spirit makes more sense."

That's another thing I didn't mention. Church was killed by Caboose several years ago. He came back as a ghost, or so he thought. Washington was trying to convince him that he isn't a ghost, he's a computer program.

"Fuck, yeah, it does! It's way less geeky, asshole!"

"A spirit?"

"Yeah! That's right!"

"A ghost?"

"Boo, mother fucker!"

They continued arguing about this for another few minutes. Suddenly, an alarm sounded.

"Oh, great!" Wash yelled!

"What is that?"

"We've been found out. Quick, grab Epsilon! I'll lead us out. Keep your head down."

"Okay, but if this fucking thing sends out any more images, I'ma throw it in the nearest trash can."

They fled the room. Church stayed low, the Epsilon unit in his arms. Washington killed as many guards as he could. It took a while, but they reached their extraction point. The reds and Caboose were still there, and Simmons shut the door after Church and Wash to keep the guards out.

"What's the status up here?"

Grif answered, "Fucked up, about to die, Simmons is a nerd. The usual."

"Looks like we got at least half a dozen squads out there," Sarge reported. "They know our position. We're out-gunned."

"So, what's the plan?" Wash asked them.

"Well, we were gonna retreat down that hall until you brought more guards up that way, so now the plan's pretty much to go down swinging. You first."

Grif started talking again. "Hey, Simmons. Can you get back on that computer and change my affiliation from red to freelancer?"

"Traitor!"

"Hey, gotta go with the winner."

Caboose was suddenly interested. "Hey, can you change my job title to something more important like astronaut? Oh, I know, space marine!

"What are you idiots doing?" Church asked them.

"This computer has all of commands records." Simmons said.

"It does? Records on everybody?"

"Yeah. You know, theoretically." Simmons began humming a tune while typing away on the keyboard.

"Oh, great! Now I'll show you that you're wrong!"

"What an excellent idea," said Washington.

"Wrong about what?"

"Wash has been trying to convince me that I'm an AI."

Grif was confused. "Huh? Why would he do that?"

"Because he's transparent?" Wash began to justify himself. "He can take over other people, y'know that kinda stuff!

"That's because he's a ghost, dude."

"Thank you. That's what I said."

"If he's a ghost, why aren't all the other soldiers turning into ghosts?"

"Okay, fine, why don't we just settle this? Simmons, look me up in the database."

"Yeah, I'd like to help, but we may have just kinda, y'know, deleted all that stuff for the blues."

"All of what stuff for the blues?" Wash asked.

"The everything stuff."

"Didn't I tell you not to touch anything?"

"Yes, but you also told us to break stuff. This seemed like an excellent compromise."

Church was quite upset. "Alright, great, that's fantastic. Now I can't prove him wrong and I don't get a paycheque. Fucking great. Thanks guys."

Sarge however seemed very triumphant. "And your side never existed, which means red wins! Suck it, you non-existent losers!"

"Oh, nobody gives a fuck about that."

"Sour grapes."

Grif stepped in at this point. "No way, he's not a computer."

"How can we be sure?" That was Sarge again.

"Maybe we should ask him something only a computer would know." That was one of Caboose's brilliant plans.

"Like what?" Simmons asked.

"What's nine times eight?"

Everyone in the room, apart from Caboose, then said "Seventy two."

"Oh my God, it's spreading!

"How about this?" Grif said. "Show me some porn."

Again, everyone spoke together. "What?"

"That's what all my computers do. Oh, oh, uh, steal some music for me. Or, uh, talk about politics and bore the shit out of me."

"Do you have any pictures of cats in serious situations?" Caboose asked.

"Because of the trauma he's been through he's not going to be able to access all of his functions. He may not even realise his full potential."

"Not living up to his potential?" Sarge confirmed. "That means Grif's a computer, too."

"It doesn't matter. We don't need him to believe. Until the next time we encounter the Meta."

Immediately following that was a loud bang on the roof.

"What the hell was that?"

Sarge answered. "Come on. Do you even need to ask?"

The Meta was a freelancer known as Agent Maine. He had been killing other freelancers over recent years and stealing both the equipment integrated into their armour and the AIs that they had. He had become obsessed with finding them all. As this facility had so many of them, the Meta couldn't resist.

"Perfect!" Washington said triumphantly.

"Perfect?" Church asked.

"He's been following us ever since I found Caboose. I knew he couldn't resist getting his hands on all the stored command AIs. Especially Epsilon."

"You knew about this?"

"Knew about it? I planned on it! Still have Epsilon?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Good. Let's get it to safety. Then we can finish this. Once and for all."

"You know, I'm starting not to trust you."

"What do you mean starting to?" Sarge asked.

They all left the room. Washington led them through a series of different corridors. There was much less security around now. They were all outside. After a few minutes of walking they reached a large garage area.

"What is this, the motor pool?" Grif asked.

"Yes." Wash replied. "Looks like everyone is outside fighting the Meta. Still, be careful. Red, you grab a vehicle. Caboose, somehow I hate to ask this but can you drive?"

"Yes. But not an automatic. Only stick."

"Why can't you drive-"

"We're in a rush!" Grif interrupted as he ran past. "Come back to it later."

"Right. Caboose, grab that car. Church, put Epsilon in Caboose's jeep. You guys are gonna make a break for it. Take Epsilon and turn him over to the authorities. They'll know what to do with him."

"You're not coming?" Sarge asked.

"No. Church and I are staying. Project Freelancer had one last resort failsafe. A high powered E.M.P that can wipe out all the AI in this facility. Now that the Meta is here we have a chance to take them all out at once and put this entire project out of commission."

"What's an E.M.P?" Grif inquired.

"It's an electro-magnetic pulse. It wipes out all circuitry and computers it touches. It will destroy the AI-"

"Oh!" said Simmons, "You mean an emp!"

"Yeah, I was just about to say. Sounds like he's talking about an emp." Sarge agreed.

"Emp? That's not how you say it!"

"That's how most people say it. Emp."

"No, they don't."

"I say it that way," Church said.

"It's initials for electro-magnetic pulse. That's E.M.P."

"Right," said Grif, "which spells emp. Duhr!"

"We don't have time for this. You're wrong."

"Why don't we take a vote?" Simmons suggested.

"A vote? No. No vote. You're just wrong. There's no vote. It's E.M.P."

"Not very democratic." Caboose said.

"Being wrong isn't a democracy. Church and I will work our way down to the director's lab while the rest of you will escape."

"What if the Meta follows us?" Sarge asked.

"No chance. There's no way he can pass up all the AI in here. Put Epsilon in the car and let's get moving."

"I'm leaving," Church said. "I'm going with them."

"What?"

"Wash, I don't give a shit about any of this. I hate you, I hate the freelancers, I hate everything about you guys. This isn't my fight. It's yours"

"It's your fight more than anyone else's!"

"I don't care what you say. No, it isn't."

"Church, you'll never get another shot at fixing all of this. I know you don't believe what I've told you, but you need to ask yourself, what if I'm right? If I am or if you had any doubts, not finding out will haunt you for the rest of your life. Not just finding out about you, but finding out about everyone close to you as well. It's your choice. What's it going to be?"

Church thought for a while. Wash was right; he wasn't going to get another chance at this. The reds began to have a discussion amongst them. Something about the car.

After a minute or so, Church agreed. He left his body behind and was about to enter Wash's head. Before he did, Wash put Iota into Church's armour. He'd been told he could reveal himself after escaping the E.M.P.

"Alright, stick to the plan," Wash said, getting the attention of the reds back. "Just run. Get Epsilon out of here. Turn him over to the authorities the first chance you get."

"Sarge, shouldn't we help him?" Simmons asked. "He won't stand a chance against that thing!"

"We have our orders, Simmons. We have to think about the mission."

"Finally, an order I want to follow," Grif interjected, "run away and live."

"If Agent Wash wants to face him alone, that's his business."

"Yeah, but he _doesn't _want to face him alone." Simmons said, turning to Church's body in the passenger seat of Caboose's car. "It's just that _some _people won't help him."

"That's not our business either."

Wash was going to correct them, say that Church was going to help. But then he thought otherwise. If they hadn't been listening, that's their problem. They'd find out soon anyway.

"Just drive," Wash instructed. "When the E.M.P goes off-"

"You mean the emp?" Caboose corrected.

"Stop it. It will destroy Epsilon if you're not far enough away."

"You got it, Mr. Washington!"

"Take care of yourself, guys. I know that's one thing you're good at."

Wash turned and pushed a button to open the door. An beeping sound began as the door slid into the ceiling.

"He's gonna be on you as soon as you clear the gate. Be ready to move. Protect the blues' vehicle at any cost." He directed this last instruction to the reds.

"Protect the blues, right, yeah." Sarge said reluctantly as he slipped into the passenger seat of the red team's car. He always hated the blues. "We'll get right on that. Shit."

Both cars left the garage and drove into the open. Wash made a radio call to the red and blue soldiers in the cars. Knowing that the Meta would be listening, he said, "That's it. Lead the Meta as far away from the base as possible."

Simmons, on the turret of the red vehicle, watched as the Meta followed Washington back into the base.

"He's fallen for it!" He exclaimed. "Gun it, Grif!"

"Hold on, everyone!" Grif announced. Both cars drove through the complex. There was a long way to go before they would get to the exit.

Just a few minutes through the drive, and Caboose slammed his car into a large boulder. The car was okay, but Church's body began to slip out.

Caboose reached to grab it and pull it back in, but he only managed to brush it with his hand before it fell onto the dirt road. Luckily, without alerting anyone, Iota had managed to slip into Caboose's armour on contact. He hid himself as well as he could from Caboose, trying to heed Washington's words.

Caboose thought Church would need his body again, and toyed with the idea of going back to get it. The reds threatened to leave him behind if we didn't move, so they all left the body behind.

It turned out that Church wouldn't need his body again because Washington was right. He was an AI, so he was wiped out with the E.M.P, which was getting ever closer to the reds and Caboose. The reds fell behind slightly and were hit. Their car engine was disrupted and they stalled. Caboose was just slightly ahead. The reds yelled after him, urging him to keep going. That's when he made a wrong turn.

Caboose was too close to the pulse to turn around, so he kept going. He ploughed through several warning barriers and then screamed as his car tumbled down a tall cliff-side.

Iota couldn't contain himself anymore and burst out, revealing himself in holographic form.

"Caboose! You must listen to me!"

"WHO ARE YOU?" Caboose screamed.

"Never mind that. Listen to me! Unfasten your seatbelt."

Caboose complied.

"Good. Now push yourself out of the car."

Again, Caboose complied.

"Okay, now tuck!"

"WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO TUCK?"

"Curl into a ball!"

Caboose did as he was told. Iota was about to lock Caboose's armour, but it seemed that his particular helmet didn't support armour lock. Instead, he quickly fabricated a locking mechanism using other systems in his helmet and locked Caboose into his ball shape to minimise the damage of the impact.

Caboose continued to scream until the 500 foot fall came to a sudden stop.


	2. Chapter 1: My New Best Friend

CHAPTER 1

My New Best Friend

"Caboose. Caboose, wake up."

Caboose opened his eyes slowly. Everything was blurry. His HUD was completely red. He could see a small, humanoid shape hovering just in front of him. As his eyes adjusted, he began to recognise the gentle glow of an AI. This one was white, unlike the only other he had encountered, Delta, who was green.

He tried to ask the AI who it was, but instead all he could let out was a pained "Ow!"

"Do not worry, Caboose. You will live. You followed my instructions so well that the only thing that would have lessened the damage from that fall would be landing in water."

"Thank you, floating person. I have lots of practise curling into balls. I do roly polys all the time. Who are you?"

"I am the artificial intelligence program, Iota. Are you familiar with any other AI units?"

"I have met one before. His name was Delta. He was my friend."

"Delta. I think I remember him. He is the logic, correct?"

"No, he was the green one."

"You said "was." What happened to him?"

"The Meta took him off me one time. I think he was killed in the emp."

"The E.M.P killed many of my siblings. It is a shame so many had to be lost. Do any remain?"

"Well, there's Epsilon and there's you. I think that's it."

"Epsilon. Where is he?"

"He was in the car."

"Your car or the other car?"

"Mine."

"We must get to the wreckage and see if his storage unit remains intact. Can you move?"

"Does thinking count as moving?"

"No. Getting to the car counts as moving."

"I can try. Where is it?"

"My scans indicate it is just on the other side of this river."

"Oh, right. The river." By this time, Caboose was sitting upright. He looked across the river and saw the crumpled remains of his car. "You want me to swim? I don't know if I can swim. I didn't bring my floaties."

"No. It just so happens you're leaning against a bridge which should provide safe passage to the other side."

"Oh, right. The bridge. I didn't see that."

"I am becoming concerned about you, Caboose. My scans of your brain are coming up with much less mental activity than is expected."

"Yeah, I try not to think too much right after nap time."

"I see. Can you stand?"

"I am standing."

"No, you're sitting."

"Oh, right, yeah, I always get those two mixed up. Which one's standing again?

"It's like sitting, but with your feet on the floor."

"Oh, yeah, I remember now!"

Caboose got slowly to his feet, but seemed unstable.

"My legs hurt."

"You will have minor bruising in several places. Your legs are no exception."

"I think I can get there okay."

"I would recommend you hold on to the side to keep yourself from falling."

Caboose slowly pulled himself along. It took a while, and he made pained sounds every time he took a step, but eventually the pair reached the other side.

Caboose sat back down again, his back against the wreckage. As he relaxed, his weight began to push the car into the river.

"Caboose, quick! Retrieve Epsilon!"

Caboose spun around and reached into the car. It began sliding quicker and was escaping his reach. He jumped forward and into the car. He found and grabbed the storage unit just as the car began to roll.

Fortunately for the three of them, Caboose was launched out as the car gathered speed. He found himself lying on the riverside, the Epsilon unit in his hand. The car careered down the muddy bank and into the deep, murky water.

"That was so cool."

"Perhaps, but I'm just glad you were successful. The storage unit appears to be intact."

"Let's do that again sometime."

"I would prefer it if we didn't"

"Come on, Yoda, didn't you have fun?"

"It's Iota, and no, I didn't. I just needed to make sure Epsilon was safe. That was all that mattered."

"Why? What's so important about Epsilon?"

"Each AI fragment, such as Epsilon, Delta and I, represent different aspects of the original personality of the Alpha AI. Epsilon was his memories and Delta was his logic. I was the part of him that made him want to protect others. I don't know what you might call me. I suppose I would be his conscience. Without Delta to determine whether or not it is the logical decision to protect, I have the natural impulse to protect anyone I can. It is difficult to overcome this impulse. I had the means to protect Epsilon, so I did. Only, I protected him through you."

"I didn't really understand that, but I guess it doesn't matter."

"Hey, blue! You down here?" said a voice in the distance.

"Why are we looking for him again?" This was said by a much deeper voice.

"Because he had Epsilon," said a third. As they spoke, the sound of an engine grew louder.

"The reds!" Caboose exclaimed, sitting back up again. "They've come to save us! Everybody! I'm over here!"

The reds came closer. They parked their vehicle and walked over to find Caboose sitting quite happily beside the river. They seemed very surprised to find him alive.

"How the hell did you survive that fall? Did you have a parachute or something?" Grif asked him.

"No. Iota saved me."

"Iota?" Sarge repeated. "Who the heck's that?"

"The glowy person." He gestured to the small white hologram floating beside his head. The reds had somehow not noticed him. "Iota, these are my friends. The orange one's Grif, the red on is Sarge, and the other red one is Simmons."

"It's not red, dipshit. It's maroon."

"Right, and maroon is Mexican for red."

"How can this guy get things so wrong?" Grif was confused. "Seriously, soon he'll be telling us his armour's just lightish red too!" This was a joke aimed at another member of the red team who wasn't there. His name was Donut and he refused to believe that his armour was pink. Instead he said it was lightish red.

"No. It's not lightish red. But I guess it's another shade of purple."

"Whatever, idiot." Sarge said. "You got that Epsilon whatjacallit or what?"

"Yes."

"Good. Load it up and let's hit the road."

"Where's he gonna sit?" Grif asked. "We got no more seats left."

"He can sit in back with Simmons."

"Is there really nowhere else he can go, Sarge?" Simmons asked.

"Oh, sure!" Sarge returned in his sarcastic way. "I'll sit him on the bumper. Or maybe I could strap him the bottom. Man up, Simmons, it's only a half hour drive!"

Simmons sighed. "Yes, sir."

Everyone climbed in. Grif sat in the driver's seat, Sarge rode shotgun and Simmons and Caboose sat in the back, crammed into small corners by the turret. Caboose didn't know where they were going, but he didn't really care.

The drive was fairly uneventful. The reds asked how they survived the fall, where Iota came from, and what they were going to do with him.

There was a long debate about this last question. Simmons, a man who very much loves to follow orders, thought they should turn him over to the authorities along with Epsilon. It was later decided that they would keep his presence a secret and let him stay with Caboose.

They came to this conclusion with a few main reasons. Firstly, Wash had only told them to turn over Epsilon. He had never mentioned Iota. Secondly, Iota said that, due to his purpose to protect and the incident that killed Agent Vermont, he felt unable to work against the director. This was what Wash had said they would do with Epsilon. Finally, it was agreed all around that Caboose would need as much help as he could get.

No-one really knows how Caboose managed it, but he somehow avoided handing Epsilon over to the authorities (the reds were unaware of this for some time). He and the reds were promptly debriefed by command and rewarded for taking out Project Freelancer. They were given new equipment and were relocated to outpost 17-B, also known as Valhalla.

The reds settled into their new base nicely. It was at the very end of a canyon, only a few metres from a small opening to the sea. Caboose, Iota and Epsilon moved into their own base on the other end of the canyon. They were situated by some very tall cliffs and a large waterfall.

Caboose became accustomed to keeping his helmet on the table beside his bed so that he could talk to Iota at night. Sometimes he would hold idle conversation just so he could use the glow from the hologram as a bedside light. With no Church, Tucker and Tex around, Caboose had lots of bonding time with Iota and did nothing but eat, sleep and work on his secret build-a-best-friend project.

Iota had been without a partner for many years now, and working with Caboose reminded him of his friendship with Vermont. Before long, he began to see Caboose as the very thing they were attempting to create.

His super best friend.


	3. Chapter 2: Old Friends, New Friends

**This chapter has been submitted quite closely to the others before it. Don't get your hopes up for chapter to be uploaded this quickly all the time. I just had it already. This is probably a one off. Just sayin'.**

CHAPTER 2

Old Friends, New Friends

It had been a few months since arriving at Valhalla. The reds had made numerous threats to come over and attack, but they never did. Their team was back at full strength. They had all four soldiers: Sarge, Simmons, Grif and Donut, and they also had their Spanish-speaking robot, Lopez.

At Blue Base, it was much more relaxed. The only occupants were Caboose, Iota and Epsilon, there were no schemes to slaughter the opposing team and the day was laid out as simply as possible in three segments: food time, nap time and work-on-super-best-friend time.

The super best friend they were building including an empty set of armour, the Epsilon AI and a few parts from a ship that had crash landed in the canyon. It looked to Iota that Caboose had absolutely no idea what he was doing, but that was fine. Caboose was his best friend, and he didn't want that taken away. So if he can't successfully build the super best friend he wants, that's fine.

One morning, Caboose woke up to his dimly lit room. He was looking forward to breakfast, as usual. Today, he thought, he would have a nice big bowl of chocolaty cereal.

He sat up with a large grin on his face as he imagined that lovely big breakfast. Iota materialised next to him, stood atop his bedside table.

"Good morning, Caboose," he said happily.

"Hello!" Caboose chirped back. "I'm hungry."

"By following your usual, seemingly unintentional routine, I will guess you're having toast this morning." Iota liked to humour Caboose, knowing that many humans don't enjoy being predictable. His knowledge of Caboose though, indicated that he probably wouldn't mind. He did it anyway, because he liked seeing his reaction to an incorrect guess.

"Nope!" he said, his big grin turning into a childish smile. He began to sway left and right. Generally, his overall manner was quite childish. A lot of people found this irritating, but Iota found that this just added to what made Caboose unique. By now he couldn't thank Washington enough for saving him. "Want to guess again?"

"As much as I would love to keep guessing, I'm sure you're starving. Let's just go and get this mystery breakfast of yours."

"Hooray!" Caboose cheered as he leapt out of bed. He was about to run straight to the kitchen when Iota reminded him to put his armour on first.

Within minutes, the soldier was fully clad in his regulation blue armour aside from the helmet which he carried. When they got to the kitchen, Caboose placed the helmet on the table and continued to pour himself his bowl of cereal. Iota acted surprised, like he never would have guessed that would be his choice.

This was the routine every morning without fail. Normally, the main part of the days would be almost exactly the same as well. The difference today involved an unexpected visitor.

Caboose and Iota went for a walk. They were on their way to get a few more parts from the crashed ship for Caboose's project. Caboose placed a toolbox and a basket beside where he would be working. The toolbox had everything he needed to get the parts. The basket had a picnic. Sometimes he would get mixed up and begin using a banana instead of a screwdriver. He also liked pretending to feed Iota small pieces of cracker.

The pair had just begun to work when they heard a voice.

"Having fun?" The voice was deep and clearly male, and it also had an element of threat in it.

"Why yes, I am!" Caboose answered.

"Caboose," Iota had a tone of warning in his voice. "Turn around slowly."

He began to turn, still crouched to the level of the panel he was working at, stumbled, corrected himself, continued to turn until he had gone 180 degrees, and then looked up. He saw a towering figure in heavy, deep orange armour with a rifle aimed directly at Caboose's head.

Iota had just appeared in holographic form, hovering beside Caboose's head, when he recognised the man. "Agent Maryland. What are you doing here?"

"Good to see you again too, Iota," Maryland said, still using his threatening tone. "I am here to collect you."

"What for?"

"For the Director. I am one of the few freelancers who are still loyal to him. He knows you are still intact. I've been searching for you ever since that incident at command. He wants you back, Iota. He still has plans for you."

"The Director kept me stored in that facility for over twelve years. I am certain that if he ever had 'plans' for me, they would be over by now."

"As one of the few AI units still intact, I would disagree."

"He can forget it. He's done monstrous things, to me, to the Alpha, to countless humans, citizens and freelancers alike. As a person he goes against everything I stand for. I will _never _help him!"

Iota was torn. He felt like Caboose should run, but any sudden movement could cause the agent to shoot. Then again, if they stayed he would likely be shot anyway. His mind was made up when Maryland said, "You don't have a choice."

"Caboose, run!" Iota yelled and Caboose stood and sprinted towards the freelancer. A shot was fired but it went wide as Caboose knocked Maryland off his feet and sent him tumbling to the ground. He continued forwards, grabbed his picnic basket and turned, heading back to his base.

"What made you do that, Caboose?"

"There were still some biscuits left! I didn't want the mean person to have them!"

"Fair enough, I suppose." Iota noticed the agent was back on his feet and running after Caboose, firing his weapon. The blue made use of the terrain to use small raised areas as cover.

"Head for the Red Base, Caboose. If they don't help, no-one will."

Again, Caboose startled Maryland by making a very tactically unsound manoeuvre (or it would have been, if the agent wasn't used to fighting people who understood military training) and made a U-turn, heading straight back towards him with devastating speed and knocking him to the floor again.

Maryland stood up, realising that the only place Caboose could be going was the Red Base, and walked there at his own pace rather than chasing him. There were very few places he could hide.

Caboose arrived at Red Base in record time, but very much out of breath. He was greeted by a shotgun held to his face by Sarge.

"Just what are you doing here, Blue?"

"Ah, I, there's, I can't, ah..." Caboose was very tired and just needed to catch his breath. Iota spoke for him.

"I'm afraid we must call on your help. A freelancer has arrived, specifically Agent Maryland, and is intent on taking me to the Director. Apparently he has some sort of plan. We have come seeking your protection. We would like you to help us to fend off this freelancer until we can decide on our next move."

"I don't know. Helping blues isn't something I tend to like doing."

"You're not him as much as you're helping me."

"Sarge, wait!" Simmons ran up from behind his sergeant. "Sarge, if you kill him, there'll be no way command will put the blues back in the database."

"True."

"And if we don't protect him, he'll get killed anyway. I think we have to help."

"Alright then, Simmons. We'll do it your way. Have everyone armed and ready on the double, even Lopez."

"Yes, sir." Simmons ran inside the base to alert Grif, Donut and Lopez.

"When do you expect this freelancer of yours to arrive?"

"Within minutes." Iota reported.

"Let's get inside. You might want a weapon, son," Sarge commented, realising that Caboose hadn't brought a weapon.

"Thank you, sergeant. I'll get some grenades."

"From what Wash told me a while back, you shouldn't be trusted with those. I'll let Donut stick to grenade tossing. Just grab a rifle or something."

It was only seconds before everyone was lined up on the upper platform of Red Base. Sarge had equipped a sniper rifle (even he had to admit his shotgun was a little too short ranged to shoot that far down the canyon, but he had it on standby just in case). Simmons had grabbed a rocket launcher and Grif, Lopez, Donut and Caboose had resorted to standard-issue battle rifles.

As they waited for something to happen, nobody spoke. It was quiet and the atmosphere was very tense.

Everyone jumped when the first shot was fired.


	4. Chapter 3 Battle at the Red Base

**Apologies for the short chapter today. Hopefully a longer one next time :)**

CHAPTER 3

Battle at the Red Base

The bullet whizzed through the air and threw up a large plume of dirt on impact. Wisps of smoke were carried by the wind away from the barrel of Sarge's sniper rifle.

The soldiers turned their heads to the small crater in the landscape, then to Sarge. He lifted his head away from the sights and tilted his head slightly in confusion.

"What is it, Sarge?" Simmons asked.

"I don't know," Sarge replied. "I'm certain I hit him. Right through his helmet, but then he just vanished."

"Are you sure it was him?"

"I think so," he turned to Iota. "Orange armour, right?"

"Correct," the AI confirmed.

"Great," Grif said. "Even more reason for Sarge to kill him."

"Shut up, numb-nuts," said the sergeant, looking out into the field again. The other soldiers followed his lead.

"Of course!" Iota realised. "All of the freelancers were given equipment. One of these pieces of equipment gave the user the ability to create multiple holographic images of himself to fool the enemy. It is possible that Agent Maryland is in possession of that device."

"Maryland?" Grif asked. "You mean like the cookies?"

"I knew he was gonna steal my biscuits!" Caboose exclaimed.

Simmons, staying on topic, asked, "Doesn't the freelancer equipment require an AI to function correctly?"

"I shall look into that if we survive this encounter," Iota replied.

"Oh no! Epsilon!" Caboose had just remembered they had left Epsilon, unprotected, back at the Blue Base. The reds didn't know that Caboose was still in possession of the Epsilon unit, and were slightly confused when he said this. Iota, however, understood perfectly.

Suddenly there was a series of three-shot bursts coming from the right, followed by Grif and Donut saying, "I saw him!"

"Tengo varios objetivos en mi monitor de movimiento!" were the monotone, Spanish words of Lopez Iota used his translation functions to decipher what he said.

"He has multiple targets on his motion tracker. Get ready." They waited, for the seconds that felt like an age, until no less than ten identical orange armoured figures melted out of the landscape, marching slowly towards Red Base.

"Open fire!" Sarge's words echoed throughout the canyon as bullets began to fly towards their targets. As one hologram vanished, another appeared somewhere else. Simmons, wielding his rocket launcher, saw a cluster of about four or five getting very close to the base. He aimed down and fired into the centre of their group.

In a deafening explosion, a large cloud of dust and flame spouted upwards. At that moment, every hologram in the canyon disappeared and everyone ceased fire. They peered down at the expanding cloud, wondering if Simmons had hit the real Maryland.

"I'm picking up movement!" Iota warned. Immediately after, a silhouette appeared amongst the dust. It ran, escaping the fading cloud and transforming into an armoured orange man that sprinted up the sloped wall of Red Base.

Maryland jumped as he reached the top, evading the incoming gunshots and aiming his landing to crush Simmons' head. The rocket launcher came out of his hands and sailed into the air. The freelancer gave it a hard punch and it smashed into Sarge's chest. Sarge had trained his sniper on Maryland, but pulled the trigger just after being hit. His shot went downwards, almost hitting Simmons and ricocheting into Grif's shoulder.

Maryland grabbed the sniper by the barrel, wrenched it out of Sarge's hands and spun around to hit Donut in the side of his head with the butt end of the rifle. He was sent tumbling down the front of the base. Maryland dropped the sniper and kicked Grif squarely in the chest. As Grif was launched backwards, the freelancer lunged forwards, grabbed his ankle and brought him in an arc over his head. He landed on Lopez.

With the Red Team incapacitated, Maryland moved towards Caboose. He kicked Simmons as he went, who was struggling to stand up.

"Don't come any closer!" Caboose yelled, pointing his rifle at the agent who continued forwards. He then looked down at his weapon and asked himself quietly, "Where's the button to make it go?"

Maryland wrapped his hand around Caboose's neck and lifted him into the air, squeezing slightly.

"Hey, Mary!" said a rough, exhausted voice. Maryland turned around just in time to see a shotgun being fired into his right leg.

The agent fell to the floor, wincing and moaning in pain. Sarge stood up, placed a foot onto Maryland's chest to restrain him and aimed the shotgun into his face.

With a pump, a spent shell was ejected from the weapon, and the leader of the Red Team announced his favourite one-liner:

"You just got Sarged!"


End file.
